Gospel Duo Mary Mary Performs 'Just the Way You Are' on Billboard
Gospel duo Mary Mary is pretty much known to be a crossover gospel group. Since their album, Something Big, was released the two have been appearing in several mainstream media outlets.
Most recently, they appeared on Billboard.com singing a rendition of pop artist Bruno Mars’ “Just the Way You Are.” While they have reached a peak that not a lot of gospel artists meet, did they go too far or is it just a merely simple song used to reach the masses?
In Billboard.com’s Mashup Monday, the sisters sang the song with the thought of the special women in their life.
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Mary Mary’s Erica Atkins-Campbell told Billboard.com, "I want [my daughter] to know she's beautiful just the way she is.”
"Sorry Bruno, I know you were singing it to a chick, but I'm singing it to my baby girl.”
While Bruno Mars wrote the song thinking about a woman he is smitten by, it seems like Mary Mary genuinely like the song.
"I remember the first time hearing that song in my car on the radio," Tina Atkins-Campbell said.
"You could sing this song to your daughter; you could sing this song to your mama, your grandma, your auntie, any woman that's special in your life."
The soulful ladies have continued to be dominant in the industry, and though they have not seemed to waver, they do appeal to more than just Christian believers. On May 17, it was announced that they are nominees in the gospel category for the 2011 BET Awards, set to air June 26 at 8 p.m. ET.
The duo addressed criticisms over their "crossover" between gospel and mainstream markets in an interview with Praise 104.1 FM earlier this year.
"We don't want our music to be restricted to a certain sect of people," said Tina Atkins-Campbell. "We make music for the world, not for people who are just like us."
Their mission, she added, is to take the Gopel to the world. Thus, the sisters view being on VH1 and other secular outlets as part of achieving that mission as they plant seeds of the Gospel in various places.
Check out their rendition of “Just the Way You Are:” http://www.youtube.com/user/BillboardMagazine?blend=1&ob=5#p/a/u/1/1uC0bezOkJ4
